The Heist
by Don Piano
Summary: You never know what you could have, before you're just about to lose it. EriXHarima Oneshot


Just something that jumped in to my head near the end of the manga, when I had about 20 chapters left. It's got a wierd voice to it because I wrote it after an all nighter. Enjoy!

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Sawachika Eri should have realized there was a problem almost immediately. Maybe her hair was getting too long and needed a trim, which stopped her from seeing the glazed look of deep thought that Takano Akira had kept on her face for most of the lesson. Perhaps she had stayed up too late the night before, dulling her skills of observation, which were, on average, at least better than Tsukamoto Tenma's, rendering her unable to notice the plot brewing just around the corner. Or it was even remotely possible that she was so busy day dreaming about Kenji Harima, delinquent, idiot, prince, that reality had little to no chance of being recognized by Eri in comparison to the world in her head. And such a beautiful world it was, with herself and her Hige sipping tea in the gorgeous flower garden located on her estate. Or even more desirable, watching a scary movie in Harima's arms with a fire in the hearth and a snowstorm at the window. There was even the smallest little scene of her and Harima, deep in her mind and secret only to her, sharing a kiss while neglecting their attention from a spring festival's fireworks, the explosion of emotion between them being far more enticing. 

It was enough to make even Sawachika Eri, princess, cold, high school beauty, yearn to write sappy love poetry, and so, putting pen to paper, she did. Slowly, and if it was even more possible, the teacher's lecture faded from her hearing, replaced entirely by herself imagining the feeling of Harima's facial hair rubbing against her soft skin as they kissed...

"Ugh." she noticeably shuttered and decided that if he was ever going to be her prince he would need to be clean shaven.

Reviewing the words she had dreamily wisped down she decided almost immediately that she was not the kind of person that should write love poetry, or maybe even poetry at all. With both stealth and vigor, she hastily scribbled the words that failed to describe her love into an unrecognizable blob of ink, still of the unbeknown that someone was watching her, despite all her efforts to avoid attention.

Without any other important happenings, save for a rogue scene, disturbing, spontaneous, intriguing, that jumped into Eri's mental movie theatre where she awoke, nude, next to Harima, class ended and lunch time began.

Takano Akira had already been confirmed countless times in Eri's mind to be a cool and collected person. Therefore, when Akira approached Eri's desk, looking troubled and dramatically flustered, our heroine Sawachika, missed yet another clue towards her own undoing.

"I need to talk to you." Akira requested, her breathing quick and her tone nearly, but not completely, sincere.

"Sure..." Eri replied, genuinely concerned.

Evidentially, Akira desired to talk secretly and went on to lead Eri on to the roof, where spring air encased the two girls and assaulted their senses.

"So what did you need to talk to me about?" Eri asked casually after a few silent moments to enjoy the season's weather.

Takano Akira noticeably hesitated before eventually trying to start her explanation of her situation to Sawachika Eri. After several "You will not believe what I'm about to say" statements quenched by Eri swearing on every ancestor she had that she would take what Akira said seriously, Akira took on an awkward tone and came clean.

"You might not believe me at all," Akira started by reiterating her earlier statement. "But I've found myself undeniably attracted to Kenji Harima."

It took Sawachika Eri's mind seven whole seconds to receive, process, and comprehend the former statement before all her defenses she had crafted for so long took effect. The only external sign of this was a blank expression on her face. Silence hung like a dew on a spider's web, stuck between the two girls, before Akira continued.

"I'm telling you this because, well, it's pretty obvious to everyone that you..."

"I don't feel anything for Harima, except maybe sorry!" Eri was quick to intercept Akira's sentence before it reached its obvious conclusion. However, instead of looking skeptical like most people when Eri denies her feelings for Harima, it seemed to Eri that Akira looked relieved.

"Oh." she said airily, "I'm glad that I can ask him on a date for tomorrow and not ruin our friendship." Akira flashed the tiniest of smiles, gripped Eri's hands, and bowed before running off.

Eri found herself pondering the strength of Akira's grip and the texture of her hand before the reality of what just transpired completely soaked in. The countless worlds of being together with her Hige breaking down into lonely weekends and arranged marriages. From there, the true Sawachika Eri took over, fleeing the roof top to return to class 2-C.

Upon her arrival, the scene before Sawachika was as follows:  
Akira,standing by Harima's desk, talking in what seemed to be, at a distance, a casual manner.  
Harima, sitting at his desk, listening with what seemed to be, at a distance, a bemused expression on his face.

Eri could only come to the conclusion that Harima was falling for Akira's casual requesting method and was mere moments away from agreeing to a rendezvous the following day. A rendezvous that should be her own, Sawachika Eri's. But our heroine refused with every essence of her being that things would merely spiral out of control in the way the currently were.

"You can't go out with Hige tomorrow!" Eri cried, rushing across the room to the other two while attracting the attention of half the school.

"Why not?" Akira asked, unconvinced.

"Because he already has plans with me!" Eri lied as a gamble.

While Akira was unnoticably taken aback from Eri's bold statement, there was another factor to the equation. Unbeknowest to any other party beside Harima, he had recently had a conversation with Tsukamoto Tenma about the importance of keeping your promise, especially to girls. So, whether he remembered it or not, a promise was still a promise.

"Ah, sorry Takano, I forgot I promised Ojou here that I would have plans with her tomorrow." Harima said, his sentence awkward in an attempt to recover from forgetting all about plans he never made.

"How could you have forgotten?!" Eri exploded at him, angered by the fact Harima forgot plans they never made. His apologetic face was handsome though.

"What about lunch?! And shopping?! And the amusement park that just opened?! And that movie I wanted to go see?!" Eri continued onward, Harima's face getting redder and redder in embarrassment as he could feel Tenma's eyes on him.

"Oh well, maybe another time then Harima." It was at that moment, when Akira's cool and calmness returned and her tone sounded like it regularly did, and only then, that our heroine, Sawachika Eri, denier, day-dreamer, lover, realized she was had by a very cool customer.

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Hehehe thanks for reading. I love SawachikaXHarima 


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